LUMUMBA: Death Of An Idea contents 4 DEATH O F AN IDEA This year marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, post- Independence Congo’s first prime minister on 17 January, 1961. Kwezi Tabaro introduces the special issue page 4 8 THE GHOST OF PATRICE LUMUMBA 60 years after the assassination of its independence icon, DR Congo is still bleeding. Why? 11 LUMUMBA’S LEGACY Sixty years after his death at the hands of Belgian officers and Katanganese secessionists, Patrice Lumumba’s legacy looms large, especially in his native Congo 14 THE ASSASSINATION We look back at some of the key actors in the Lumumba assassination: the plotters, villains, and victims 22 NO LAND FOR HEROES page 9 Have Africa’s “stability revolutionaries’ lost a clear vision for a free, united, and confident Africa, asks Angelo Izama 25 REFLECTIONS: WHAT LUMUMBA MEANS TODAY The core of Patrice Lumumba’s brave fight, the values, principles, and ambitions he so boldly page 14 page 13 proclaimed, are still missing, argue our special issue contributors Benefique Magadju and Davis Mukyenga 31 REFLECTING ON LUMUMBA’S LEGACY In Raoul Peck’s film, the Congolese hero encapsulates this tragic side of life, yet he also incarnates the triumph of the human spirit 33 POETRY Ssebo mwami Lumumba 34 LUMUMBA1961: A READER A collection of articles, books, movies and documentaries on Patrice Lumumba’s life and legacy page 22 LéO Africa Review 3 LUMUMBA: Death Of An Idea DEATH OF AN IDEA? Lumumba 60 Years On. 4 LéO Africa Review LUMUMBA: Death Of An Idea Kwezi Tabaro Editor HIS YEAR MARKS presence of D.R. Congo’s conflicts as the 60th anniversary a news menu item, it is important to of the assassination of reflect back on the events of sixty years Patrice Lumumba, post- ago because they have a bearing on Independence Congo’s first developments in the region and across Tprime minister on 17 January, 1961. the continent. Dubbed by many as the most important In this special issue of the LéO Africa assassination in the last century, Review, we turn the clock hand back to Lumumba’s arrest by Mobutu’s forces the 60s and explore the emergence of and later death at the hands of Moise Lumumba on Congo’s political scene, his Tshombe’s Katanga secessionists Pan-Africanism, his legacy—if any—and aided by their Belgian and American what lessons we can draw from this life allies marked an important juncture in that was tragically cut short at just 35. Congo and post-Independence Africa’s confrontation with the East-West Cold According to the Tanzanian Marxist War divide. scholar Abdul Rahman Babu—who had met Lumumba while traveling through For many young Africans today who are the Congo for the 1958 All Africa Peoples confronted by the seemingly unending Conference organized by then Ghanaian LéO Africa Review 5 LUMUMBA: Death Of An Idea prime minister Kwame Nkrumah in Forty years later, Belgium acknowledged and corruption spawned by the quest to Accra—Lumumba’s rise to prominence it bore “moral responsibility” for his death feed mega-companies with minerals.” in the Congo coincided with growing and having his body dissolved in acid. US hysteria over the Soviet Union’s The only remains of the Congolese leader While the truth around Lumumba’s encroachment on recently independent were a tooth that Congolese campaigners assassination has largely come to light— countries in the global south. led by Lumumba’s daughter Juliana are in part thanks to recently declassified still demanding be returned to the Congo. documents by the CIA and Belgian Lumumba’s nationalist rhetoric and authorities, that around the continuing his party—the Congolese National Lumumba’s assassination and the Congo political and security crisis in the Congo Movement (MNC)—‘s broad appeal Crisis that preceded it have gone on to and the region has not. across the Congo had done little to settle shape not only the history of the Congo, American nerves. In his 1958 speech at but that of her neighbours. In Uganda, It is important for emerging leadership the AAPC, for example, Lumumba had the infamous Gold Scandal following voices in Africa today to tap into this assured all in attendance: the Obote government’s covert aid to renewed attention on the Congo crisis Lumumbist rebels led by Christophe and use the 60th anniversary of Patrice “The winds of freedom currently blowing Gbenye, precipitated the rise of Idi Amin Lumumba’s death to reflect more deeply across all of Africa have not left the onto the country’s political scene with on the challenges Africa and Congo Congolese people indifferent. Political disastrous effects. continue to grapple with and come up awareness, which until very recently with appropriate solutions. was latent, is now becoming manifest To date, Congo’s stability continues and assuming outward expression, and We live in a world, as we have just seen it will assert itself even more forcefully during the coronavirus pandemic, where in the months to come. We are thus the death and suffering of Black bodies is assured of the support of the masses expected, or at least tolerable and when it and of the success of the efforts we are doesn’t happen, it is a matter for wonder, undertaking.” speculation and conjecture. Such should implore us to work tirelessly to restore Later, at Congo’s Independence in June the dignity and place of the African in the 1960, in the presence of the then-king world. Baudouin, Lumumba used the moment of to lash out at Belgium for racist persecution Continued violence against Black bodies and forcing “humiliating slavery” on the in the Congo, Uganda, or elsewhere Congolese people which resulted in the on the continent has a direct impact mutilation and death of millions in rubber on other forms of violence—economic, plantations owned by King Baudouin’s physical, psychological—that are visited great granduncle Leopold II. on Africans elsewhere. In that way, our indifference or acquiescence to such The condemnation—and later TOP forms of violence at home in turn fuels Lumumba’s “Africanisation” policies as Christophe Gbenye the indignation and violence we continue the new leader of government—did not to be a subject of debate globally and to face as black people in the world. sit well with Belgian business interests especially in Africa where it has birthed a and soon resulted in the Congo crisis, new brand of activism. In October 2020, My hope is that by revisiting such as Ian Katusiime explores in this issue. for example, celebrities from across Africa traumatic episodes of our continent’s and beyond including NBA star Serge history we are able to inspire reflection on Only six months after leading his country Ibaka took to Twitter to draw awareness the viability of the “Independence” project to Independence, Lumumba was about the situation in Congo using the in Africa and reignite the dying ambers overthrown, then jailed, tortured and hashtag #CongoIsBleeding. According to of that pan-African dream as envisioned finally killed by firing squad in January Forbes Africa, the campaign aimed “to by Nkrumah, Nyerere, Lumumba, among 1961. highlight child slavery, deadly conflicts, others: total liberation for all Africans. 6 LéO Africa Review LUMUMBA: Death Of An Idea LéO Africa Review 7 LUMUMBA: Death Of An Idea THE GHOST OF PATRICE LUMUMBA 60 years after the assassination of its independence icon, DR Congo is still bleeding. Why? By Ian Katusiime Source: Uptatie mod tin voluptat praesse quisit utpat nisci eraessequam dolenim do ex eu feugait 8 LéO Africa Review LUMUMBA: Death Of An Idea In her groundbreaking book on Congo, In the Footsteps of Mr following the end of his mandatory two terms of office. Kurtz, Michela Wrong, referred to the story of Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu as a latter day tale of Brutus and Caesar The poll result was hard to figure out but many believe Tshisekedi playing out in the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa. Mobutu struck one of the most cunning political deals in post-indepen- who would be the president of Congo started out as an aide dence Africa, to assume the presidency in return for giving his to the future prime minister of the country as the two worked predecessor, Kabila, a wide berth as far as any witch-hunting away in Belgium, the then colonial overlord. was concerned. It is a bargain perhaps observers of Congo would not bristle at in the context of Lumumba’s demise. The relationship culminated in a power struggle with the brutal killing of Lumumba on January 17, 1961 on the orders Away from the deal making, the country remains an open of Mobutu, a fast rising military officer who assumed absolute wound. Just on New Year’s Eve, a militia hacked to death 25 power in Congo, backed by Belgium. The complicity of Belgium people; including women and children, in Beni, a town in north in Lumumba’s murder added to the ever complex question of eastern Congo. The eastern part of the country has borne the rebuilding Congo against the backdrop of exploitative Western brunt of mayhem for decades. A springboard for armed gangs, powers. rebels, and warlords all seeking to lay claim to the gold mine that is Congo. LéO Africa Review revisits the legacy of the Congolese icon who is widely hailed as a pan-Africa hero and a martyr of African Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a professor of African and Global independence. Studies at the University of North Carolina has argued that the greatest legacy Lumumba left for Congo is the ideal for As DR Congo marks the 60th anniversary of Lumumba’s death, national unity.